INFLUENCED...
Mumbai is the city of Dreamers and Achievers. It presents an interesting mix of those who made up to their dreams and those who could not. Amazingly each face in the city is a story in itself. I have been a keen observer of such stories since last 2 years and 9 months (to be precise). On the streets, in the train, amidst shopping lanes, malls, seaside, everywhere you will observe this story which has two simple answers – yes or no!
I completed a few tasks and took up the train to Sewri around 2.00 PM from Kharghar. The train is noisy and cluttered at various stages, especially from Vashi to Govandi then around Kurla and Vadala. The afternoon time seems the best for these vendors who sell anything from toys, jewellery, striking earrings and other edible items. The Chinese market has dominated the products varying from pencil boxes, household items and stationery. Young men, women and at times children market and sell these products, shouting the rates, products and attracting customer. At times people find these vendors irritating, at time useful. They save you a lot of time making the important things at the trainstep.
Nothing seemed important enough to attract my attention in years. I observed them and forgot them. Never did I buy any of these products, may be thinking what would people think about me buying this low grade stuff. I had been conditioned for the mall/s.
But this day was different. Interestingly, I was reading this book which talks about inner purpose, purpose of life etc. etc. and I was not able to relate to what it means being in present and not being conditioned by the obnoxious past and the mysterious future. I wondered if there was anyone who could reach a stage like this. I was trying to think about it, but it was getting difficult to think in absolute terms, not getting in to the past or procrastinate about future. Finally, I gave up and closed the book to catch up with it later.
I peeped out of the window for some fresh air, took a deep breadth and closed my eyes for a fraction. When my eyes opened, I saw this old woman standing in front of me selling stuff and shouting for attention to her customers. There seemed hardly any. Aunty, as she is addresses by other co-workers, she must be in her late fifties, with a thin skeletal structure, with hardly any flesh. The bone structure was evident. Her face was full of wrinkles, half covered by the thick glasses in the well-defined black frame. I pondered what her eyes could be like, it was difficult to cut through the thick glasses and glance through them. She had tied her short hair with a shabby rubberband in to a ponytail. She was wearing a light biscuit coloured salwar kameez, with a duppatta that was tightly wrapped in the sides. It seemed she had never washed it and would never do. She didn’t have the looks that could sell her products, but she had energy to talk to women, convince them and take on some additional tasks as well. She never got tired of locating seats for women who were standing and was quick enough to point out as more and more seats got vacant. It seemed she was totally occupied in her work, marketing the Mehandi cones, the home made sweets and the additional play items that she was testing before she invested in more of them. She was occupied fully in locating new customers, counting her pennies and arranging for change if she was short of it.
Maybe, Aunty was unaware about what could happen to her job if Mumbai switched to metros in next few years that allow entry only for the elite? What would happen if the train fares were raised and were redesigned on willingness to pay. She didn’t seem to bother either about what would happen if Mumbai turned in to Shanghai and all the poor were forced to move out of the city? She didn’t have to bother about market trends, sales forecast and the consumer behavior. It seemed irrelevant.
She was in her present and was too occupied to serve the NOBLE purpose. I wondered how does Mumbai label her - as an achiever or a non-achiever. But how does it matter!
Someone called her from the other part of the compartment. She quickly gathered her stuff and disappeared to serve her new customer. I smiled and got back to my reading hoping the book will make more sense to me now.
